On April 17, Equity markets recorded an over 1.2% decline, the steepest in the past five weeks, caused by Infosys’ guidance concerning tech spending.

On Monday at 11:20 am, the benchmark Sensex and the Nifty tumbled 1.2%. The Sensex fell 728 bps to 59,702 bps, while the Nifty erased 182 points to 17,645 points.

Many brokerages have downgraded Infosys after its disappointing Q4 results, thus cutting its target price. JP Morgan has sunk the stock to ‘underweight’, cutting its target price to Rs 1,200 from Rs 1,500 apiece. CLSA cut its target price to Rs 1,550 from Rs 1,800, whereas Citi kept its target price to Rs 1,400 from Rs 1,675 a share. Besides, Nomura Research’s target price was Rs 1,290 from Rs 1,660, and Bofa cut its target price to Rs 1,390 per share.

The Nifty IT index fell over 6% after tech behemoths Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd posted weak earnings for March. Infosys declined 11% to hit over a one-year low, cutting Rs 70,000 crore of investors’ wealth. Many brokerages have downgraded the stock after Infosys’ sales growth will be just 4% to 7% because of client spending and an uncertain demand environment due to the disappointment of US banks.

Wipro and TCS lost 3% each, while LTIMindtree fell 8%. L&T Technology Services, Persistent Systems, Coforge, Tech Mahindra, Mphasis, and HCL Technologies tumbled to 6%.